Material reducing machines are well-known for use in connection with the demolition of a house or other structure. Such machines typically include a conveyor for moving debris such as wood, siding, roofing materials and even appliances such as water heaters toward a rotating drum having tools thereon which is contained within a housing having an anvil bar located in close proximity to the free ends of the rotating drum tools. The tools of the rotating drum carry material into contact with the anvil bar where it is broken into smaller pieces. Most commonly, a plurality of screen sections are located adjacent to and downstream of the anvil bar so that further rotation of the drum causes partially reduced material to be further reduced by successive impacts of the tools of the rotating drum until it will pass through the apertures in one or another of the screens.
Known material-reducing machines may not be suitable for use in reducing all types of materials, particularly if there is the possibility that an object which cannot be reduced, such as a large dense metal component or fragment, or a railroad tie that contains metal tie plates and spikes, can be introduced into the machine. Some machines include shear pins that will break when an object that cannot be reduced is introduced, thereby allowing a portion of the machine housing to pivot or otherwise move so as to enlarge the opening through which the object can pass. In machines which include a shear pin, operator intervention is required when a pin shears to get the machine back into operating order.
In addition, known material-reducing machines may not efficiently reduce fibrous materials like roofing shingles, because it may require multiple impacts of such materials against the anvil to provide acceptable reduction. Furthermore, some of the prior art machines may fail to produce uniformly shaped smaller pieces. Some types of materials tend to break in elongated shapes in the prior art machines, and these elongated shapes may be difficult to handle or transport, and may therefore be generally undesirable. When these elongated shapes are able to pass through the screen sections of the prior art machines along with more uniformly sized particles, they may contaminate the resulting product with pieces of an undesirable size. Finally, prior art machines are not readily adaptable to processing different types of materials.
Notes on Construction
The use of the terms “a”, “an”, “the” and similar terms in the context of describing the invention are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising”, “having”, “including” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The terms “substantially”, “generally” and other words of degree are relative modifiers intended to indicate permissible variation from the characteristic so modified. The use of such terms in describing a physical or functional characteristic of the invention is not intended to limit such characteristic to the absolute value which the term modifies, but rather to provide an approximation of the value of such physical or functional characteristic. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise specified herein or clearly indicated by context.
The use of any and all examples or exemplary language (e.g., “such as” and “preferably”) herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and the preferred embodiments thereof, and not to place a limitation on the scope of the invention. Nothing in the specification should be construed as indicating any element as essential to the practice of the invention unless so stated with specificity.
Various terms are specifically defined herein. These terms are to be given their broadest possible construction consistent with such definitions, as follows:
The term “material reducing machine” refers to a machine that is adapted to cut, chop, shred, break or otherwise reduce material into smaller pieces.
The terms “upper”, “top” and similar terms, when used in reference to a relative position or direction on or with respect to a material reducing machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction that is farther away from the surface on which the material reducing machine is placed for operation.
The terms “lower”, “bottom” and similar terms, when used in reference to a relative position or direction on or with respect to a material reducing machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction that is nearer the surface on which the material reducing machine is placed for operation.
The term “horizontal”, when used in reference to a plane that includes the axis of rotation of the rotor assembly of a material reducing machine, refers to a plane that is generally parallel to the surface on which the material reducing machine is placed for operation.
The term “front end” and similar terms refer to the end of a material reducing machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, which is nearest the point at which material to be reduced is introduced into the machine.
The terms “forward”, “in front of”, and similar terms, as used herein to describe a relative position or direction on or in connection with a material reducing machine or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction towards the front end of the machine.
The terms “back end”, “rear end” and similar terms refer to the end of a material reducing machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, which is farther from the front end of the machine, component or portion thereof.
The terms “rearward”, “behind”, and similar terms, as used herein to describe a relative position or direction on or in connection with a material reducing machine or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction towards the rear end of the machine.
The term “leading”, as used herein in connection with a cutting tool that is mounted on the rotor assembly of a material reducing machine, or in connection with a shear block or breaker block that is a part of the breaker assembly of a material reducing machine, refers to the outer edge of the cutting bit of the cutting tool that approaches the shear block or breaker block of the adjacent breaker assembly as the rotor assembly rotates, or to the outer edge or surface of the shear block or breaker block of the breaker assembly that is first encountered by material carried by the cutting tools that are mounted on the adjacent rotor as the rotor assembly rotates.
The term “long”, as used herein to describe cutting tools that are mounted along the length of the rotor assembly, refers to the cutting tools having a longer outward radial projection from the axis of rotation than the “short” cutting tools.
The term “short”, as used herein to describe cutting tools that are mounted along the length of the rotor assembly, refers to the cutting tools having a shorter outward radial projection from the axis of rotation than the “long” cutting tools.
The term “downstream”, as used herein to describe a relative position on or in connection with a material reducing machine, refers to a relative position in the direction of the movement of material to be reduced through the machine.
The term “upstream”, as used herein to describe a relative position on or in connection with a material reducing machine, refers to a relative position in a direction that is opposite to the direction of the movement of material to be reduced through the machine.